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The slowdown in the L train was noted on Friday night, resulting in drastic reductions in the number of nights and weekend service with a performance that left many passengers confused, frustrated and convinced that the next 15 to 18 months will be more painful than previously thought.
The problems started at 9:30 pm, just half an hour before the L service was scheduled to slow down the scheduled 20 minutes, with trains running only three times per hour. But as the gap between the trains began to widen, the countdown through the L train corridor progressed, showing 41 minutes of waiting until the next train arrived. in the direction of 8th Avenue.
"The first day, we are already late .It's really worrisome," said David Dimicelli, a resident of Williamsburg, while he was speechless in front of the screen. of Bedford Avenue. "I was expecting it to be pretty awful, but …" The 33-year-old supply chain manager interrupted and then turned to his partner to remind him that it was not too late to leave the neighborhood definitively.
An L-type train finally arrived about 30 minutes later, but the MTA was soon forced to turn off its countdowns, leaving passengers in the dark about the train schedule until close to midnight. And even as the official Twitter account of the subway insured customers they could find real-time service information on the MTA application, which was also in Fritz. At noon on Saturday, the app still did not show train service L to 8th Avenue.
For many of the city's usual runners, a group of 400,000 people every day, the underground reality was far from the description given by the governor of "service that would still work". In Union Square, crowds were gathered along the barricades at the mezzanine level, sometimes waiting to board an open train that would not arrive until about an hour later. Public transit employees, spread out in significant numbers in the system, practically asked customers to use the increased service on lines M, G and 7, as well as free transfers on M14A / D and Williamsburg buses. Link.
Those who remained had to wait longer not only in railway stations but also in stationary trains. The hours of attendance seemed particularly bad at Union Square, where the MTA's nested system forces Brooklyn's services to wait for the arrival of a passing train before switching to the shared lane. avoid the construction area between 3rd Avenue and Bedford.
"It's worse than I thought," said Alfredo Fernando, a dishwasher at a restaurant near Union Square. He usually leaves work at 11 pm go home to the Graham Avenue stop, he said, and had not seriously considered using other solutions up until now. "It will be a total disaster for me."
27 minutes since the last train left. The person in charge of the group station (Shan) drives from car to car to tell people that it will be another 5 to 10 minutes. At the top, a line of people waiting for the next train pic.twitter.com/iSnikL4wuo
– Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) April 27, 2019
The ubiquitous L train show dancers were also upset by the cuts in service. "It's really messing up the flow for us," said Danny "DocSmooth" Cruz, a resident of the Bronx. Realizing that he should probably start playing on a new line, he complained of taking the L for so long. "It's the train here, that's where it's really going."
Several runners noted that they were impressed by the MTA's efforts in human communication. In addition to the heavy police presence, hundreds of transit workers – their orange vests with the pink "Ask me about Project L" button – were scattered across multiple stations, handing out materials and doing their best. to answer questions. Among them was Andy Byford, president of NYC Transit, who spent most of his night go around the platform asking New Yorkers where they were going and knowing the alternative service options.
A handful of workers also reiterated their own concerns regarding the safety of the revised L-train project, which could, according to some, expose employees and passengers to carcinogenic silica dust. "There is going to be dust here," said an MTA employee behind a mask. When asked if he was concerned about the quality of the air during the downturn, he replied, "I would not wear a mask if I was not there."
For its part, the MTA described the dust fears raised by the construction on the wall of the damaged bench as "scandalous and false". The agency also promised to release the results of air quality monitoring, although the timing and location of this information is unclear.
New Yorkers work together. Without counting down, they wonder how long they have been waiting for the L train to know when the last one has arrived. An MTA employee suggests they endorse the free shuttle. @ NY1 pic.twitter.com/9BfKkAa28m
– Van Tieu (@Van_Tieu) April 27, 2019
Some users, however, claimed that the reduction in service was an improvement over the previous plan, which involved closing the tunnel completely for 15 months. Kristi Maroutas, a 30-year-old sales executive who moved from Southold (Long Island) to Williamsburg last month, did not understand why people panicked: "If you're really in a hurry, just grab an Uber We are just happy that it's open at all. "
According to transit advocates, one of the impending fears about the slowdown is that L-train users will abandon mass carpooling companies, creating congestion that would make the bus service cumbersome and require even more traffic. people to abandon public transit. At least half a dozen riders told Gothamist on Friday night that they would likely start taking car services much more frequently between Manhattan and Brooklyn.
While the crowds around Union Square were beginning to shrink around midnight, Byford told Gothamist that he was proud of how the MTA had handled the first night of the downturn, even though there were some " points of learning "on his course.
"The goal is to continually improve," he added. "Although Friday is intense for a short time, [on Saturday] we will be busy all day. I think tomorrow will be the biggest test. "
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